1. Cross Reference to Related Application
This application is related to another U.S. patent application, Ser. No.08/395,547 entitled "Self-Verifying Identification Card" (Kristol 2-12), with this application being concurrently filed with the present application, having the same inventors, and being incorporated herein by reference.
2. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an identification card verification system, and in particular to one in which the identification card carries an image which is scanned for optical values which are compared to an image signature to verify that there have been no alterations to the card. The verification can be made at the point of transaction or by reference to a central data base.
3. Description of Related Art
The use of identification cards is proliferating in commercial transactions such as check cashing and credit cards, security applications to gain access to premises, licenses of various kinds, and passports, which may be considered one of the first uses of an identification card.
In structure, the cards usually contain a photograph of a person. Recently additional features are sometimes added such as a signature, fingerprint, or even the image of the person's retina. Each of these is a characteristic which is unique to each human being, and their addition reflects attempts to mitigate the possibility of forged identification cards. As greater reliance has been placed upon these cards, their value to unauthorized users and to unauthorized purveyors of false identification cards has also increased significantly. Counterfeiters routinely obtain or make passport and driver license blanks and affix a photograph for a small fee.
With the increased number and variety of identification cards, automated methods of their manufacture have been developed. U.S. Pat. No. 4,999,065 to Wilfert describes a method of transferring a video image of a person, signature, or fingerprint into digital form, adding data from a keyboard, and laser printing the composite.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,157,424 to Craven et al. teaches a method to superimpose a signature over a portrait wherein the signature is scaled in size and printed in a tone which is reverse to that of the portrait. So the signature would appear white if applied over dark hair. This is an example of a card which is harder to counterfeit.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,737,859 to VanDaele shows a bi-level recording device which produces a composite half-tone record in which images of different subjects remain visually distinguishable. Digital information from the two images is fed into an EXOR gate which drives a print engine to produce a composite of a portrait and line work. This is quite similar to the previous patent.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,321,751 to Ray et al. describes a method and apparatus for credit card verification wherein a picture accompanies an application for the card. The picture information is converted into a digital image which is stored centrally or at the point of a transaction. The digital image is also stored in a medium like a magnetic stripe used by many cards or into an electronic storage system such as in "smart cards". At the point of sale the digital image of the presenter is converted to a video monitor display. The card administration agency also receives a verification request together with an identification code provided by the presenter which selects an algorithm to translate the stored digital information into a video display. In this invention the photograph is not on the card.
Accordingly, there is a need for an identification card verification system which accepts data from a broad variety of scanners. The system and the verification process also need to be robust, in that the verification should be insensitive to noise caused by imperfections or dust on the card. In particular, they should be resistant to any attempt at tampering or counterfeiting.